Apparatus and method for displaying search results using tabs

ABSTRACT

A graphical user interface includes tabs representative of different classes of search results. The tabs are derived in response to the processing of a query. The different classes of search results group content by meaning, such that a query term with different meanings produces different classes of search results with different meanings.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationSer. No. 61/037,676, filed Mar. 18, 2008, entitled, “Apparatus andMethod for Displaying Search Result Content and Associated Advertising”,the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to displaying search results.More particularly, the present invention relates to techniques fordisplaying search result content and associated advertising.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Existing search engines typically display a list of search resultsassociated with a search query as a list of relevant web pages. Thislist may include web pages with identical or similar content. Forexample, when a search query matches a particular section of a web page,a user is typically exposed to many copies of the same or similarinformation. Some existing approaches involve summarizing a singledocument, for example, by choosing particular sentences from thedocument, rather than by presenting the information as a whole from aset of documents. It would be desirable to develop a technique by whichresults of a search query can be grouped efficiently so that theduplicate content appearing to the user is minimized.

Further, existing approaches to refine a search associated with a searchquery typically involve entering a new search query. Some search enginesinclude suggested topics in response to a search query. However, thesesuggestions are generally based on criteria, such as popularity or pastsearch criteria. It would be desirable to develop a technique by whichquery refinements for a search query can be automatically generated froma search result set.

The current state of the art in Web advertising relies upon relativelysimple advertisement placement paradigms. Current approaches to webadvertising typically involve displaying sponsored link advertisementsor banner advertisements for a given search term. Sponsored linkadvertisements are generally listed in an order determined by the searchengine, typically by some combination of pay-per-click bid auction andrelevancy factor. Currently, search engines enable advertisers to pay,usually by bidding for sponsored link placements along withnon-sponsored search results or for keywords to which the advertiserswant to match sponsored link advertisements. Refining an advertisementtypically involves entering a new bid on the keyword query extension.Existing approaches may provide suggestions to advertisers on whichadditional keywords and query extensions to bid. Even with thesesuggestions, advertisers typically guess the keywords that users may useto refine their searches and then bid on those keywords. Furthermore,these suggestions are typically based on popularity, past searches orother criteria, so that bidders who bid on these keywords have apossibility of their advertisement being displayed.

It would be desirable to develop a technique by which advertisements canbe automatically generated from the search results associated with asearch query. In addition, it would be desirable to develop a techniqueby which the placement of advertisements is not directly related to thebidding on specific keywords or query extensions to those keywords, butcan be determined based upon criteria entered by an advertiser.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A graphical user interface includes tabs representative of differentclasses of search results. The tabs are derived in response to theprocessing of a query. The different classes of search results groupcontent by meaning, such that a query term with different meaningsproduces different classes of search results with different meanings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The invention is more fully appreciated in connection with the followingdetailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates tabs representative of different classes of searchresults that are derived in response to the processing of a query.

FIG. 2 illustrates a differential presentation of stacks associated witha search query, in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 illustrates drill down results displayed for an exemplary searchquery.

FIG. 4 illustrates tabs, stacks and drill down categories displayed foran exemplary search query.

FIG. 5 illustrates exemplary non-sponsored and sponsored tabs displayedfor a search query, in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 6 illustrates stacks and drill down categories displayed for asponsored tab, in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 7 illustrates exemplary sponsored and non-sponsored drill downcategories associated with a search query, in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 illustrates a stack of advertisements displayed in response to asearch query, in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 9 illustrates the display of a traditional banner advertisementresponsive to a search query, in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 10 illustrates advertisements generated for a search query, inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 illustrates a sponsored snippet displayed next to anon-sponsored search result.

FIG. 12 illustrates a graphical user interface screen display with longlength snippets.

FIG. 13 illustrates a graphical user interface screen display with shortlength snippets.

FIG. 14 illustrates a search results page with displayed snippets.

FIG. 15 illustrates a graphical user interface screen display,displaying long length snippets in a single column presentation format.

FIG. 16 illustrates a user interface screen display, displaying longlength snippets in a double column presentation format.

FIG. 17 is an illustration of the direct navigation technique, inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 18 illustrates a computer configured in accordance with anembodiment of the invention.

Like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts throughout theseveral views of the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention disclose a graphical user interfacefor a search engine. The disclosed embodiments include techniques forinteracting with data, in particular with search results responsive to aquery. As will be described in greater detail below, the disclosedgraphical user interface is designed based on a set of commands andorganizes data (e.g., documents, web pages) based on concepts (meanings)associated with the data. The organized data is dynamically derivedusing the commands in response to the processing of the query.Embodiments of the present invention may be implemented on a computerscreen user interface, a desktop, a mobile device user interface or anyother networked environment user interface.

In one aspect of the present invention, a tab-based technique fordisplaying search results in a graphical user interface is disclosed. Inone embodiment, a Search Result Tab Display Module 212 (shown in FIG.18) includes executable instructions to display tabs representative ofdifferent classes of search results derived in response to theprocessing of a query. FIG. 1 illustrates one or more tabsrepresentative of different classes of search results that are derivedin response to the processing of a query. As will be discussed ingreater detail below, the different classes of search results aregrouped by meaning, such that a query term with different meaningsproduces different classes of search results with different meanings. Inthe particular example illustrated in FIG. 1, tabs 12, 14, 16 and 18representative of different classes of search results associated with aquery term, “thunderbird” 10 are displayed. Observe that each tab hasassociated text characterizing the different classes of search results.In one embodiment, the tabs associated with a particular query term maybe derived dynamically by selectively invoking pre-existing categories.For example, and as will be discussed in greater detail below, the tabsmay be derived dynamically utilizing Markov techniques to groupunstructured text sources or by extracting semi-structured data groups,based upon shared lexical features or based upon ontological features.

Each tab includes a related query (or query extensions) representativeof different concepts (meanings) associated with the query term. Forexample, the query term, “thunderbid” 10, includes a “Ford Thunderbird”tab 12, which is a query extension to refer to a type of a car, an “AMDThunderbird” tab 14, which is a query extension to refer to anaerobatics group, an “Air Force Thunderbirds” tab 16, which is a queryextension to refer to an airforce group and a “Thunderbird Mail” tab 18,which is a query extension to refer to a freeware email program.

Observe that the related queries included in the tabs replace theoriginal query term with a more focused set of documents, therebyrefining the search query. A user can then select a tab displaying aquery extension to run a more precise search query, as will be describedin greater detail below. The related queries for a query term may begenerated based upon a number of criteria including, but not limited to,stems (for example, singular/plural), abbreviations (for example, CA orCal for California), word grouping (for example, spider man, spiderman,spider-man), spelling variations, semantic relationships such asgeneralizations or specializations, for example, hyponyms or hypernyms(red shoes, scarlet shoes, vermillion shoes), synonyms, acronymexpansion, terms that divide a search space into substantiallynon-overlapping subsets, capitalization and Markov techniques thatconsider preceding and subsequent terms for a related query

Each related query displayed in a tab further includes at least onesearch result including a list of web documents, as will be described ingreater detail below. In one embodiment, one or more sub-tabs withineach class of search results may further be displayed. In oneembodiment, the tabs may also include images characterizing thedifferent classes of search results, wherein the images characterize therelated queries.

In addition to being a mixture of all concepts (meanings), each concept(meaning) represented by a tab may also be kept separate from the othertabs, and displayed with a set of documents relevant to the particularconcept or meaning associated with the tab. Other concepts (meanings)and their associated results may be selected by choosing the appropriatetab.

Further, the tabs may be displayed anywhere in the graphical userinterface page. In one embodiment, a “default tab” may also be included,which captures the sum of all the meanings and displays aninitial/default set of results associated with the search query term. Ifthere are numerous query extensions associated with a search query term,the query extensions may also be displayed using a drop-down menu thatsupplements the tabs. The number of tabs displayed and which queryextensions are displayed as tabs, as well as the order, may be selectedbased upon criteria, such as the space available for display, therelevance of the query extensions and other criteria chosen by thesearch engine. In one embodiment, the criteria may include the qualityof the returned pages by using a query independent metric of quality ofthe pages, or a query dependent metric of quality of the pages. Inanother embodiment, the criteria may also include the meaningfulness ofthe query extension determined by how often and where it appears on theweb, by how much it co-occurs with other possible query extensions onthe web, by whether it is a well formed noun phrase as judged by rules,by statistical methods, by whether it occurs with particularcapitalizations or by Markov methods that consider the preceding andfollowing terms for that query extension. The query extensions may alsobe determined by manual editing, either by initial machine generatedpossibilities followed by a human step of removing erroneous entries, orby human generated possibilities.

The determination of the tabs to display initially may be performedbased on criteria, such as, for example, pre-existing human specifiedcriteria, a historical tab click through data determined by historicalmeasures of what tabs are clicked on, order of tab selection, measuresof the quality (both query dependent and query independent) of theresults of each tab candidate, lexical metrics (capitalization andlength), uniqueness metrics as measured by co-occurrence, cosinedifference, overlap metrics, preferences among parts of speech orontological classes (proper names, places, noun phrases beginning withcolors), measures of network occurrence change, measures of clickthrough change as measured by changes of behavior in what pages areclicked on and measures of queries issued and measures of page dwelltimes.

Query extensions can also be grouped according to common criteriadetermined with respect to the search results returned. For example,query extensions referring to people, geography, or other common factorsby which search results relate can be placed under one tab, based uponcriteria determined by membership in a larger list, extractedautomatically from unstructured text sources by Markov methods,generated from smaller lists by clustering, extracted by regularexpressions from semi-structured data, extracted from larger lists byselection of certain elements having shared lexical or ontologicalfeatures or derived by some other suitable method. Further, the tabs maybe listed by alphabetic order, or arranged by the quality of documentsbased upon a ranking score.

In accordance with another aspect of present invention, “stacks”organizing different classes of search results are derived in responseto the processing of a query. In one embodiment, a list of web documentsmay be dynamically grouped into a stack in response to a search query.The dynamic grouping may be performed, for example, by forming stacks ofdocuments with similar conceptual propositions, forming stacks ofdocuments with common information, forming stacks of documents inaccordance with distance metrics which may use clause, sentence andparagraph boundaries as well as HTML markup to quantify distance. Stacksof documents may also be formed in accordance with semantic andstatistical criteria which determine the relationship between terms thatmay be used to quantify which parts of the page are relevant and theirdegree of relevance by inducing a metric on areas identified by a metricon the contents. Stacks of documents may be formed in accordance withclustering criteria, induced metrics, lexical criteria, ontologicalcriteria or mention frequency based on identifying the additionalnotions referenced on a subset of the pages in the stack that arerelated to the search query under consideration. In one embodiment, aSearch Result Stack Display Module 214 (shown in FIG. 18) includesexecutable instructions to display stacks that have common attributesassociated with a tab, but where each stack has a refined meaningrepresenting a different class of search results.

Returning to the example illustrated in FIG. 1, stacks 19, 20, 22, 24,26 and 28 associated with the “Ford Thunderbird” tab 12 are displayed.Observe that each stack includes text and an associated imagecharacterizing the different classes of search results. In oneembodiment, the images may be represented by icons. The imagescharacterize the content of the stack and may be dynamically selected inresponse to the processing of the query. The text summarizes what isunique regarding each stack created in response to the query.

In one embodiment, the text descriptions may be generated automaticallyas a summary of the stack's contents. The content of the summary issimilar to the content of all the web pages in the stack that arerelevant to the query. In one embodiment, the description may be aparagraph cited from a web page in the stack. In another embodiment, thetext description may be a summary of what is unique about the stack,generated automatically from all of the web pages in the stack basedupon a set of pre-defined criteria. Images may also be automaticallychosen. In one embodiment, the images may be chosen from the web pagesin a stack based upon criteria such as identifying images that occurmultiple times in the stack. Images that are labeled (or co-occur) withcertain terms in the stack may also be selected, especially if thoseterms occur with high information gain in the stack or are in certainHTML constructs, for example, title or images that are similar to otherimages in the stack as judged by a label (either included in the stackor as a generated label from another page where the image if found),direct comparison, color palette, or filename. Images and textdescriptions may also be generated separately, combining the results onthe user interface page after the images and text have been separatelyprocessed.

The stacks may further include characterization information. In oneembodiment, the characterization information is dynamically derived. Inone embodiment, the characterization information may include textcharacterizing stack content. In another embodiment, thecharacterization information may include images characterizing stackcontent. The characterization information may further include iconscharacterizing stack content, text selected from a document in a stackor text that is automatically generated to characterize content within astack. The characterization information may be derived from sourcesreferencing documents in a stack. The characterization information maybe selected from a library of images, from redundant images in a stack,from a label associated with an image or from an HTML label associatedwith an image. In one embodiment, the characterization information maybe an icon selected from a library of icons. The characterizationinformation may be accumulated in parallel processes and then combinedto form a stack. The characterization information may be accumulated ina single process to form a stack. The characterization information mayinclude text characterizing similar classes of search resultsrepresented in stacks. The characterization information may furtherinclude a number specifying the number of related documents in a stack.

In one embodiment, the documents in a stack may be displayed with a flipthrough menu. In another embodiment, the documents in a stack may bedisplayed with a drop down list menu. The documents in a stack may alsobe displayed with a scroll over pop-up screen.

Each stack may further be organized into one or more sub-stacks. Asecond order sub-stack within a sub-stack may also be included. Forexample, clicking on one stack may result in the display of a set ofsub-stacks. Similarly, clicking on a sub-stack may result in the displayof another set of sub-stacks. This may be repeated as long as searchresults are available.

In one embodiment, a “differential representation” of the stacks isgenerated as a result of the comparison of information in web pages andthe associated images of web pages grouped in a stack or a sub-stack.The “differential representation” identifies to the user identical orsimilar information in a stack or a sub-stack of web pages returned inresponse to a search query. Although stacks and sub-stacks have adefined structure, the web pages in a stack or sub-stack are notstrictly identical, despite their shared relevance to the query.Accordingly, the information in a stack may include second-orderdifferences. In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention,the “differential presentation” of the stacks groups the web pagesinside the stacks and sub-stacks by second-order similarity andhighlights the similarities or differences between the web pages withina stack or sub-stack so that these stacks or sub-stacks offer anefficient navigation through those web pages to users. This process ofgrouping by lower-order similarity can be repeated again for thesestacks or sub-stacks, as long as there are enough web pages available inthem. In one embodiment, the related information in a stack may bedesignated with contrast criteria. The contrast criteria is selectedfrom highlighting, strike through, underlining, bolding, italics, andfont color. The related information in a stack is designated with secondorder similarity criteria.

FIG. 2 illustrates a differential presentation of stacks associated witha search query in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention. As illustrated, the differences between the informationincluded in a set of stacked results is displayed to a user bydisplaying the identical or similar information in the web pages of thestack, and also displaying the differences between the web pages in thestack. In the illustrated example, differential presentations 30, 32,34, 36, 38 and 40 associated with the stack “Ford Thunderbird—Wikipedia,the free encyclopedia” 18, for the search query term, “thunderbird” 10are displayed. The differential representation, “The 1955-57 FordThunderbird—The Fifties Cars” 30 groups together the cars of that era.Observe that the differential presentation includes a description of thestack and identifies the type of information that is grouped together inthe stack. Similarly, the stack “George W. Walker” 34 providesinformation about the designer of the car.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that the use of “stacks”representing different concepts or meanings, in accordance withembodiments of the present invention, maximizes the diversity of contenton a search result page and decreases the replicated information thatappears in the user interface screen display. The grouping of theresults occurs dynamically, during query execution, enabling theefficient processing of search results. Further, the automaticallygenerated images disclosed in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention provide a visual summary of a group of information included inweb pages grouped in a stack,

In another aspect of the present invention, a drill down technique foranalyzing the results of a query is disclosed. In one embodiment, aSearch Result Drill Down Module 216 (shown in FIG. 18) includesexecutable instructions to display a listing of results derived fromprocessing a query. The Search Result Drill Down Module 216 furtherincludes executable instructions to display a menu of refining searchterms that is dynamically derived in response to the processing of thequery. In a particular embodiment, the analysis includes inferring a setof terms that are good refinements for the query and providing them asguidance to the user for refinement of the current search or for afuture search query. These terms may be grouped into meaningful labeledlists. Selecting one of the terms from one of these lists executes themore precise query, as will be discussed in greater detail below.

FIG. 3 illustrates drill down results displayed for an exemplary searchquery. In one embodiment, the drill down results include a menu ofrefining search terms that are dynamically derived in response to theprocessing of a query. In one embodiment, the menu is a multi-levelpull-down menu. In the illustrated example, a drill down menu 40 isdisplayed that lists search term refinements for the search query,“thunderbird” 10. The determination of the categories (i.e., the searchterm refinements) to be displayed in the drill down menu may bedetermined based on criteria including, but not limited to, stems,abbreviations, word grouping, spelling variations, semanticrelationships, synonyms, acronym expansion, terms that divide a searchspace into substantially non-overlapping subsets, capitalization, andMarkov techniques that consider preceding and subsequent terms for arelated query.

The search term refinements may be based upon predetermined ontologies.In one embodiment, the search term refinements may be based uponextracted ontologies. In another embodiment, the search term refinementsmay be based upon induced relationships from the co-occurrence of setsof objects. The search term refinements may also be based upon markupgroup search results, regular expression group search results, Markovmodel group search results, grammatical pattern group search results,context free pattern group search results, predetermined rule groupsearch results or machine learned rule group search results. The searchterm refinements may also be based upon combinations of group searchresults, combining Markov model group search results, ontologicalrestriction group search results, lexical restriction group searchresults or co-occurrence restrictions. The order of search termrefinements may be based upon page rankings, the number of web pagesselected, the overlap of web pages, the percentage of documentsselected, a quality metric, or the relevance between list items andspecified concepts.

FIG. 4 illustrates tabs, stacks and drill down categories displayed foran exemplary search query. In the illustrated example, search resultsfor an exemplary search query term, “jaguar” 11 are displayed. In anexemplary operation, upon execution of the search term, “jaguar” 11, auser is presented with one or more tabs representative of the differentclasses of search results associated with the search query. Uponselection of a particular tab, for example, “All Results” 13, the useris presented with one or more “stacks” that organize the differentclasses of search results corresponding to the selected tab. Asdiscussed above, the “stacks” may include web documents with similarcontexual propositions associated with the search query term “jaguar”11. As further illustrated, the user is also presented with a “drilldown list” 17 of category information corresponding to the selected tab,“All Results” 13 derived in response to the processing of the queryterm, “jaguar” 11.

In another aspect of the present invention, a technique for displayingadvertisements and sponsored advertising content is disclosed. In oneembodiment, a Search Result Advertisement Display Module 218 (shown inFIG. 18) includes executable instructions to display a set ofadvertisements associated with a search query term. In one embodiment,an advertisement is selected based upon a document retrieved byprocessing a query. An advertisement may include, for example, an image,text or an icon. Further, an advertisement may be visuallydifferentiated from content in the document. In one embodiment, theadvertisement may be placed adjacent to a specified concept associatedwith the document. The advertisement may be retrieved from anadvertiser's web page. In one embodiment, an advertisement with a linkto a search results page is provided to the user.

In a particular embodiment, advertiser criteria may be specified in a“tab” as a query extension that provides links to sponsoredadvertisement pages. In one embodiment, such tabs are referred to as“sponsored tabs”. The tabs may be sponsored by an advertiser. In oneembodiment, a sponsored tab is visually differentiated from anon-sponsored tab. The sponsored tabs may include for example, a displayadvertisement, advertisements in a visual image analogous to what wouldbe seen in a publication like a newspaper or magazine, video and otherforms of advertisements that may include images, titles, descriptions,or other media content, as well as text descriptions to describe theadvertisement. In one embodiment, the sponsored tab is readily apparentto a user through one or more methods, including applying differentialcoloring to identify the sponsored tab, identifying the sponsored tabwith a logo or brand or other methods.

FIG. 5 illustrates exemplary non-sponsored and sponsored tabs displayedfor a search query, in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention. A search results page that includes sponsored andnon-sponsored content is illustrated. In the illustrated example, asearch query “disney” 44 includes one or more non-sponsored tabs 46, 48,50, 52 and 54 that link to general content associated with the searchquery “disney” 44 and a sponsored tab 56. Selecting the sponsored tab 56creates a link to an advertiser's web page associated with the searchengine. A refining search tem and an associated sponsored advertisementlink may also be provided. In this example, the advertiser, “Disney” maypurchase the right to display the sponsored tab 56 for queries thatmatch certain criteria (for example, any query with the word “disney”).The different advertisements for Disney products, which may include oneor more stacks 58, 60, 62, 64, 66 and 68 for grouping similaradvertisement pages are also displayed in FIG. 5.

In one embodiment, a user clicking on a sponsored tab is directed to aweb site without returning a search result page. In other words, a useris not taken off-site from the search engine's page to the advertiser'sweb page. Instead, the user views the content in the sponsored tabitself and navigates the results in the sponsored tab using the searchengine's graphical user interface. In order for the content in thesponsored tab to be current, the search engine updates the informationin its sponsored tabs either directly by working with the advertiser toprovide the most up to date information or by crawling the advertiser'swebsite.

The form of payment by the advertiser to the search engine for sponsoredtabs may take one of many forms, such as pay-per-placement, where theadvertiser pays each time a sponsored tab (or the image and textdescription in the sponsored tab itself) is displayed, or pay-per-clickwhen the advertiser pays each time the sponsored tab (or the image andtext description in the sponsored tab itself) is clicked by the user, orpay-per-action, when the advertiser pays the search engine when thespecific action (such as an order or purchase action) is taken or anycombination of the above, as well as any other form of payment that theadvertiser and the search engine agree upon. The disclosed techniquedoes not limit the form or the value or the way in which paymentagreements are made between the advertiser and the search engine. In oneembodiment, a common payment agreement such as an auction or fixed priceagreement based on click-through or impressions (displays) of anadvertisement may also be utilized.

FIG. 6 illustrates stacks and drill down categories displayed for asponsored tab, in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention. In the illustrated example, upon selection of the sponsoredtab, “eBay” 45, the user is presented with stacks that include differentadvertisements associated with the search term, “jaguar” 11 and drilldown category information 47 retrieved from the advertiser's web site,in this case, “eBay” 45. Observe that a user can navigate the resultsassociated with the sponsored tab without being taken off-site from thesearch engine's web page to the advertiser's web page.

In another embodiment, a drill down menu with advertisement content isprovided. As will be discussed in greater detail below, a drill downmenu with a link to a sponsored tab may also be provided. In otherembodiments, a drill down menu with a link to a search results page withan advertising link and organic results, a drill down menu with a linkto an advertiser web page, a drill down menu with a link tonon-sponsored domains and sponsored domains and a drill down menu with alink to a sponsored action may be provided.

FIG. 7 illustrates exemplary sponsored and non-sponsored drill downcategories associated with a search query, in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention. Non-sponsored search queryextensions “All Meanings” 72, “Peter Pan Bus” 74, “Disney Peter Pan” 76,“Peter Pan Peanut” 78 and “more” 80, associated with a search queryterm, “peter pan” 70 are displayed. A drilldown refinement menu 82displays non-sponsored and sponsored drill down categories. In theillustrated example, the drilldown categories “Films”, “Authors” and“Plays” are non-sponsored drill down categories, while “DisneyCharacters” and “Children's Literature” are sponsored drill downcategories. The sponsored drill down categories “Disney Characters” and“Children's Literature” lead to further drill down categories withsponsored content such as “Costumes”, “DVDs”, “Snowglobes” and so on forthe Disney character “Tinker Bell”.

The disclosed drill down technique is also applicable to sponsoredadvertisement categories. In one embodiment, the drill down categoriesthat may be sponsored include refinements that take the user to asponsored tab. The drill down categories may also take the user to asearch results page of the search engine that includes an advertisinglink intermixed among organic results, as will be discussed in greaterdetail below. In other embodiments, the sponsored drill down categoriesmay take the user to a web page established by the advertiser to furtherdrilldown categories that may include any combination of non-sponsoredand sponsored drilldown choices, to a sponsored action (describedbelow), to specific features, models, colors, services, prices or otherattributes of a product, service or advertisement or to any other formof advertising content, either solely displayed or mixed withnon-sponsored results, within or outside the search engine's web pages.In addition, the placement of the sponsored drill down categories may beanywhere within the drill down menu.

In one embodiment, the sponsored drill down categories may beprominently displayed such as, for example, by including a note next tothe category, such as “ad” 84 displayed next to the sponsored category,as illustrated in FIG. 7. The sponsored data drill down categories mayinclude any combination of additional information including the identityof the advertiser, price, functions, models, brands and other relevantaspects that may be displayed in the primary or one or more ancillarydrill down menus.

In another embodiment of the present invention, a technique for theplacement of advertisements on a search results webpage is disclosed. Inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention, an advertisement may beplaced anywhere on the search results webpage, including intermixed withnon-sponsored results or placed outside the non-sponsored results. Theadvertisements may include banner advertisements or sponsored links andmay contain images, text descriptions, video and or other forms ofadvertising. In one embodiment, a non-sponsored result is differentiatedfrom a sponsored result by displaying a note next to the sponsoredresult.

FIG. 8 illustrates a stack of advertisements displayed in response to asearch query, in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention. The illustrated embodiment displays a sponsored link “NapaAuto Parts” 86 and the note “Ad” 88 identifies that the search result isan advertisement.

FIG. 9 illustrates the display of a traditional banner advertisementresponsive to a search query, in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention. In the illustrated example, the banner advertisement“Bed Bath Beyond Now Through Sunday Sale” 92 is responsive to the searchquery, “bed bath and beyond” 90.

In another embodiment, the advertisement may include a link to asponsored action. A menu for a sponsored action may also provided. Auser may wish to engage in “sponsored actions” to purchase a productfrom the advertiser through links displayed within a descriptionassociated with a sponsored tab or within the search query result page.In one embodiment, a sponsored action link may be displayed next to anadvertisement or a non-sponsored search result for a product displayedon a search result page.

FIG. 10 illustrates advertisements generated for a search query, inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In theillustrated example, advertisements for a search query “flatscreen TV”94 are displayed. The sponsored action link “Buy It” 96 is shown next tothe non-sponsored search result, “Thompson Thompson Multi-” 98. As auser scrolls over the action link 96, a temporary pop-up menu 100appears with one or more advertisers for the action. The order ofpreference may be auctioned or combined with some factor to identify thehighest listed advertiser.

FIG. 11 illustrates a sponsored snippet displayed next to anon-sponsored search result. The sponsored snippet provides additionalinformation not available in the non-sponsored result. In theillustrated example, a non-sponsored search result “Bed Bath and BeyondExclusively Ours” 104 is displayed as a result of the query for “bedbath beyond” 102. An advertisement or sponsored snippet 106 indicating acurrent sale is displayed on the same search page. The placement of theadvertisement or sponsored snippet near the specific URL is advantageousbecause it is based on the content of the search results the searchengine displays, rather than in response to a keyword search query.Another advantage of placing a sponsored snippet or advertisement near anon-sponsored URL link is that it conveys information beyond what can befound on a non-sponsored URL link or snippet. In the example specified,the Bed Bath and Beyond home page snippet 104 does not change as oftenas the store has sales so the advertisement or sponsored snippet 106provides additional information about a limited time only sale. Theinformation to be provided in the sponsored snippet or advertisement canbe provided by the advertiser directly or it could be a crawledadvertisement indexed by the search engine.

In addition, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention,an anchored area can be placed anywhere on the search results userinterface page and can include advertisements, features, announcements,an area to store search results that the user wants to keep for laterreview, a search box or other relevant content. As illustrated in FIG.11, an anchored footer area 105 includes pagination controls for goingfrom page to page and an anchored header area 103 includes the searchbar. Observe that the header and footer areas are not scrolled over by auser. An anchored content area 101 may be placed anywhere on the searchresults user interface page. Accordingly, a user can scroll up and downthe search results but maintain an anchored area on the page. Further,the anchored search bar 103 may be placed anywhere on the search resultspage such as on the top, on the side, or the bottom or elsewhere on thesearch results page such that a user who scrolls through the resultsmaintains a visible search box while scrolling through the searchresults. Embodiments of the present invention differ from current stateof the art Internet search engines, which generally provide a searchbox, typically at the top and/or bottom of a search engine results page,which is not anchored and thereby disappears when a user scrolls downthe list of search results that take up more than the displayed browserwindow.

In another embodiment of the present invention, advertisers may entermultiple criteria (for example, color, function, price, models, brands,discounts) to enable the navigation of users to advertisement pages. Thecriteria may be entered through a graphical user interface included inthe search engine. Advertisers may enter the criteria freeform or intodesignated categories specified by the search engine. The search enginemay use these criteria directly (i.e., place all or a portion of thespecific criteria in the drilldown listed information) or the searchengine may infer information from that criteria to drive the searchchoices towards content provided by the advertiser. The informationinferred may help target the message of the advertiser who entered thecriteria to specific search queries, specific drill down queryextensions, tabs or other information displayed by the search engine.

In another aspect of the present invention, text snippet resultsdisplayed in a search result user interface page may be changed todiffering lengths depending on factors such as a user's preference, apreferred look depending on the type of web browser utilized, the sizeof the browser window or other display preferences determined by theuser or the search engine. In one embodiment, a Text Snippet DisplayModule 220 (shown in FIG. 18) includes executable instructions todisplay text snippet results associated with a search query term. FIG.12 illustrates a graphical user interface screen display with longlength snippets. An exemplary long length snippet is illustrated by thereference numeral 106. FIG. 13 illustrates a graphical user interfacescreen display with short length snippets. An exemplary long lengthsnippet is illustrated by the reference numeral 107. As will beappreciated by those skilled in the art, the utilization of shortsnippets for displays is advantageous in cases where the screen space islimited, such as, for example, in mobile devices.

In one embodiment, configurable parameters to format the search resultsmay further be provided. The configurable parameters may specify acolumn configuration and a textual summary length. The columnconfiguration may be configured in response to the quantity of searchresults. The textual summary length may be configured in response to thequantity of search results. Further, the column configuration and thetextual summary length may be configured based upon the type of browseror the browser window size. In certain embodiments, the textual summarylength may be specified by a user. Further, the amount of text displayedmay be based upon the column configuration or based upon the textualsummary length.

FIG. 14 illustrates a search results page with displayed snippets. Thesnippets are also referred to as textual summaries. The two paragraphs108 and 110 illustrate two possible snippets from one or more webpages.If the user chooses to display medium length snippets, then the snippetfrom the second paragraph 110, where the search term “term A” appearstwice (the snippet consists of the 4 highlighted sentences) isdisplayed. If the user then switches to short snippets, the searchengine shortens the snippet to include just the first sentence (quisqueest term A, sodales in, varius sit amet, imperdiet et, arcu) appearingin the snippet from the second paragraph 110. In another embodiment, thesearch engine may instead pick the bolded sentence (Donec nonummy Term Ami) from the first paragraph 108 because paragraphs near the top of thepage are scored higher and explanatory text is more likely to appear inthe document introduction. A snippet essentially gives the user apreview of a document. A snippet length preference therefore not onlylets the user choose the size of the preview, but the location of thepreview as well.

In one embodiment, the user may choose to change the length of thesnippets to include more results with shorter snippets, or less resultswith longer snippets. The user may wish to see more detail per result atthe expense of seeing fewer results, or less detail with more results.Alternatively, a user may find short snippets preferable for certainkinds of searches (for example, if the user wishes to scan a number ofsites to see the price for a particular product, X). On the other hand,long snippets may be desirable for other types of searches (for example,if a user wants to learn more about a particular individual, Y).

As discussed above, the number of columns displayed may be changed basedupon a user's preference or automatically by the search engine,depending upon a number of factors such as, for example, the size of thebrowser window. Further, one or more choices for the number of columnsto be displayed may also be provided. FIG. 15 illustrates a graphicaluser interface screen displaying long length snippets in a single columnpresentation format. In the illustrated example, a user may select oneor more snippet sizes, “short” 112, “medium” 114 or “long” 116 and oneor more presentation formats “1 column” 118 or “2 column” 120 fordisplaying the snippets. FIG. 16 illustrates a user interface screendisplay, displaying long length snippets in a double column presentationformat.

In another aspect of the present invention, a “direct navigation”technique is disclosed that enables a user to find one or more web sitesthat match the user's text, as the user types a query. Sometimes thematch is straightforward (for example, a search query term “amazon”matches the URL—“www.amazon.com”) but this is not generally the case:for example, the query “san fran chronicle” should ideally match theURL-www.sfgate.com. The disclosed technique utilizes a number ofheuristics to determine the best match. In one embodiment, match indicaare produced that directs a user to a website without returning a searchresult page. The match indicia may include at least two of a destinationURL, a destination icon and a trade name. Further, the destination iconmay be retrieved without accessing a website landing page. In oneembodiment, the match indicia has a related advertisement.

In another embodiment, a scroll area displaying search results and apermanently displayed anchored content area may be displayed. Theanchored content area includes a search box. The anchored content areamay also include advertisements, announcements, news reports, contentrelevant to a user, pagination controls, column controls and textualsummary length controls. In one embodiment, a Search Result DirectNavigation Module 222 includes executable instructions to display a setof navigation choices associated with a search query term.

FIG. 17 is an illustration of the direct navigation technique inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention. One or more navigationchoices are retrieved and included in a search assist box 122. Thenavigation choices appear in the search assist box 122 as the user typesthe search query, “nort” in the search bar 124. The direct navigationtechnique disclosed in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention enables a user to directly navigate to a particular site fromthe “search suggest” box 122, without having to view a standard searchresults page and clicking on one or more of the search results.

When a user clicks on a particular navigation choice, the user is takendirectly to the associated site, bypassing the search results pagealtogether. Further visual aids may be provided to indicate theavailability of a particular site to a user. For example, as illustratedin FIG. 17, a destination URL, for example, www.nortel.com is displayed.Also, the trade name or official or generally understood name, NortelNetworks, is displayed Also observe that the icon 126 used by the sitefor branding and identification purposes (sometimes called a favicon) isreproduced in the box 122 next to the site name and URL. Accordingly,the navigation choice provides a strong visual confirmation of theuser's intended site. The visual representation of a navigation choicehelps a user navigate through the search suggest/assist results andidentifies the official website for those companies. As mentioned above,the navigation choices may be retrieved by the search engine from awebsite landing page or obtained in some other way including directlyfrom the owner of the website landing page. The navigation choice placedin the “search suggest” box 122 may also be sold by the search engine asa placed advertisement or additional feature.

FIG. 18 illustrates a computer configured in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention. The computer 200 includes standardcomponents, including a Central Processing Unit (CPU) 202 andinput/output devices 204, which are linked by a bus 206. A NetworkInterface Circuit (NIC) 208 provides connectivity to a network (notshown), thereby allowing the computer 200 to operate in a networkedenvironment.

A memory 210 is also connected to the bus 206. The memory 210 includesone or more executable modules to implement operations of the invention.In one embodiment, the memory 210 includes a Search Result Tab DisplayModule 212, a Search Result Stack Display Module 214, a Search ResultDrill Down Module 216, a Search Result Advertisement Display Module 218,a Text Snippet Display Module 220 and a Search Result Direct NavigationModule 222.

The Search Result Tab Display Module 212 includes executableinstructions to display tabs representative of different classes ofsearch results derived in response to the processing of a query. TheSearch Result Stack Display Module 214 includes executable instructionsto display common attributes associated with a tab but having a refinedmeaning representing different classes of search results. The SearchResult Drill Down Module 216 includes executable instructions to displaya listing of results derived from processing a query and a menu ofrefining search terms that is dynamically derived in response to theprocessing of the query. The Search Result Advertisement Display Module218 includes executable instructions to display a set of advertisementsassociated with a search query term. The Text Snippet Display Module 220includes executable instructions to display text snippet resultsassociated with a search query term. The Search Result Direct NavigationModule 222 includes executable instructions to display a set ofnavigation choices associated with a search query term. The operationsperformed by the executable modules in the memory 210 are discussed indetail with respect to FIGS. 1-17 disclosed above.

It should be noted that the executable modules stored in memory 210 areexemplary. Additional modules, such as an operating system or graphicaluser interface module may also be included. It should be appreciatedthat the functions of the modules may be combined. In addition, thefunctions of the modules need not be performed on a single machine.Instead, the functions may be distributed across a network, if desired.Indeed, the invention is commonly implemented in a client-serverenvironment with various components being implemented at the client-sideand or server-side. It is the functions of the invention that aresignificant, not where they are performed or the specific manner inwhich they are performed.

An embodiment of the present invention relates to a computer storageproduct with a computer-readable medium having computer code thereon forperforming various computer-implemented operations. The media andcomputer code may be those specially designed and constructed for thepurposes of the present invention, or they may be of the kind well knownand available to those having skill in the computer software arts.Examples of computer-readable media include, but are not limited to:magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape;optical media such as CD-ROMs, DVDs and holographic devices;magneto-optical media; and hardware devices that are speciallyconfigured to store and execute program code, such asapplication-specific integrated circuits (“ASICs”), programmable logicdevices (“PLDs”) and ROM and RAM devices. Examples of computer codeinclude machine code, such as produced by a compiler, and filescontaining higher-level code that are executed by a computer using aninterpreter. For example, an embodiment of the invention may beimplemented using Java, C++, or other object-oriented programminglanguage and development tools. Another embodiment of the invention maybe implemented in hardwired circuitry in place of, or in combinationwith, machine-executable software instructions.

The foregoing description, for purposes of explanation, used specificnomenclature to provide a thorough understanding of the invention.However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that specificdetails are not required in order to practice the invention. Thus, theforegoing descriptions of specific embodiments of the invention arepresented for purposes of illustration and description. They are notintended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise formsdisclosed; obviously, many modifications and variations are possible inview of the above teachings. The embodiments were chosen and describedin order to best explain the principles of the invention and itspractical applications, they thereby enable others skilled in the art tobest utilize the invention and various embodiments with variousmodifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It isintended that the following claims and their equivalents define thescope of the invention.

1-28. (canceled)
 29. A system comprising: one or more devices to:identify a plurality of meanings associated with a term of a searchquery; identify a plurality of related queries associated with theplurality of meanings, each related query, of the plurality of relatedqueries, corresponding to a respective meaning of the plurality ofmeanings, each related query, of the plurality of related queries,including the term and one or more additional terms; and provide, fordisplay in a browser window, information identifying a plurality ofsearch results relating to the search query and the plurality of relatedqueries, when providing the information identifying the plurality ofsearch results, the one or more devices are to: provide the informationidentifying the plurality of search results for display in a pluralityof tabs of the browser window,  each tab, of the plurality of tabs,identifying a related query of the plurality of related queries,  eachtab, of the plurality of tabs, including information identifying one ormore search results of the plurality of search results.
 30. The systemof claim 29, where, when providing the information identifying theplurality of search results for display in the plurality of tabs, theone or more devices are to: provide a plurality of terms with aparticular tab of the plurality of tabs, the plurality of terms refiningthe search query.
 31. The system of claim 29, where, when providing theinformation identifying the plurality of search results for display inthe plurality of tabs, the one or more devices are to: provide aplurality of categories for display with a particular tab of theplurality of tabs, each category, of the plurality of categories,including one or more terms that refine the search query.
 32. The systemof claim 29, where, when providing the information identifying theplurality of search results, the one or more devices are further to:provide information relating to a manner in which snippets of text,associated with the plurality of search results, are to be displayed.33. The system of claim 32, where the information relating to the mannerin which the snippets of text are to be displayed includes informationidentifying a plurality of different sizes for the snippets of text. 34.The system of claim 32, where the information relating to the manner inwhich the snippets of text are to be displayed includes informationidentifying a quantity of columns for displaying the plurality of searchresults.
 35. The system of claim 29, where a particular tab, of theplurality of tabs, is associated with an advertiser, and where, whenproviding the information identifying the plurality of search resultsfor display in the plurality of tabs, the one or more devices are to:provide with the particular tab: information identifying the advertiser,and content obtained from a web site of the advertiser.
 36. The systemof claim 35, where the content includes: one or more categories ofinformation refining the search query, and the information identifyingthe one or more search results, of the plurality of search results,included in the particular tab.
 37. A method comprising: identifying, byone or more devices, a plurality of meanings associated with a term of asearch query; identifying, by the one or more devices, a plurality ofrelated queries associated with the plurality of meanings, each relatedquery, of the plurality of related queries, corresponding to arespective meaning of the plurality of meanings, each related query, ofthe plurality of related queries, including the term and one or moreadditional terms; and providing, by the one or more devices and fordisplay in a browser window, information identifying a plurality ofsearch results relating to the search query and the plurality of relatedqueries, providing the information identifying the plurality of searchresults including: providing the information identifying the pluralityof search results for display in a plurality of tabs of the browserwindow, each tab, of the plurality of tabs, identifying a related queryof the plurality of related queries, each tab, of the plurality of tabs,including information identifying one or more search results of theplurality of search results.
 38. The method of claim 37, furthercomprising: obtaining content from a web site of an advertiser, where aparticular tab, of the plurality of tabs, is associated with theadvertiser, and where providing the information identifying theplurality of search results for display in the plurality of tabsincludes: providing the content in the particular tab.
 39. The method ofclaim 38, where providing the content includes at least one of:providing pricing information for one or more items identified by theinformation identifying the one or more search results, of the pluralityof search results, included in the particular tab; providing informationidentifying an available quantity of the one or more items; or providinginformation identifying a condition of the one or more items.
 40. Themethod of claim 37, where providing the information identifying theplurality of search results for display in the plurality of tabsincludes: providing, for display with a particular tab of the pluralityof tabs, information identifying a plurality of categories for refiningthe search query.
 41. The method of claim 40, where a particularcategory, of the plurality of categories, is associated with anadvertiser, and where the method further comprises: detecting selectionof information identifying the particular category; and providing, basedon detecting the selection, for display: information identifying theadvertiser, information regarding one or more items, for sale,associated with the particular category.
 42. The method of claim 37,where providing the information identifying the plurality of searchresults includes: providing information relating to a manner in whichsnippets of text, associated with the plurality of search results, areto be displayed, where providing the information relating to the mannerin which the snippets of text are to be displayed includes at least oneof: providing information identifying a plurality of different sizes forthe snippets of text; or providing information identifying a quantity ofcolumns for displaying the plurality of search results.
 43. The methodof claim 37, where a first tab, of the plurality of tabs, is associatedwith an advertiser, and where providing the information identifying theplurality of search results for display in the plurality of tabsincludes: visually distinguishing the first tab from a second tab of theplurality of tabs based on the first tab being associated with theadvertiser.
 44. The method of claim 43, where visually distinguishingthe first tab includes at least one of: including one or moreadvertisements, relating to the advertiser, in the first tab, orincluding a logo or a brand, associated with the advertiser, in thefirst tab.
 45. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storinginstructions, the instructions comprising: a plurality of instructionsthat, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or moreprocessors to: identify a plurality of meanings associated with a termof a search query; identify a plurality of search results relating tothe search query; identify a plurality of groups of search results, eachgroup of search results, of the plurality of groups of search results,corresponding to a different meaning of the plurality of meanings; andprovide, for display in a browser window, information identifying theplurality of search results, one or more instructions, of the pluralityof instructions, to provide the information identifying the plurality ofsearch results including: one or more instructions to provide, fordisplay in the browser window, the plurality of groups of searchresults,  each group of search results, of the plurality of groups ofsearch results, including information identifying one or more searchresults of the plurality of search results.
 46. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 45, where the one or more instructionsto provide the information identifying the plurality of search resultsinclude: one or more instructions to provide information identifying aplurality of categories for refining the search query, the informationidentifying the plurality of categories being provided for display withthe information identifying the plurality of search results.
 47. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 45, where the one ormore instructions to provide the information identifying the pluralityof search results include: one or more instructions to provideinformation relating to a manner in which snippets of text, associatedwith the plurality of search results, are to be displayed, where theinformation relating to the manner in which the snippets of text are tobe displayed includes information identifying a quantity of columns fordisplaying the snippets of text.
 48. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 45, where the instructions furthercomprise: one or more instructions to obtain information from a web siteof an advertiser, and where the one or more instructions to provide theinformation identifying the plurality of search results for displayinclude: one or more instructions to provide the information obtainedfrom the web site.